Even before the dust settled in Bangkok after the March 28 quake, China Railway's 10th Bureau was deleting posts and photos about its key role in constructing the infamous collapsed building.
The shocking, apocalyptic images of the 32-storey Audit Office Building in Chatuchak collapsing gave sensation-driven news reports around the world the false impression that Bangkok itself was falling down.
There is no doubt that Bangkok, a city singularly unaccustomed to earthquakes, was badly shaken. An air of panic descending in the vicinity of wobbling skyscrapers cannot be denied, raising long-term questions about the suitability of high towers for human habitation.
But scary or not, all buildings but one passed the test.
Bangkok's high-rise condos, hotels, and office towers were buffeted by the long waves of the distant quake but remained structurally intact and standing after it was over.
There were isolated incidents of trauma -- rooftop pools spilling into streets below, window washers dangling helplessly, scary images of falling debris and the tragic topping of a high-altitude crane -- but only one building.
In an idiosyncratic and unrepresentative way, that building became emblematic of the quake, not just in Bangkok but as a stand-in for the far more seriously devastated Burma at the quake's epicenter.
The Bangkok video footage of the tall cement and steel structure trembling and tumbling down is dramatic and can be seen from multiple angles, but it obscures even as it horrifies.
The quake was no one's fault, but it was not an equal opportunity destroyer, either. It was a strong one, 7.7 on the Richter scale.
Given its epicentre 1,000km from Bangkok, the long seismic waves that washed over the Thai capital tended to cause certain undulations in anything tall. It was that tectonic movement which triggered the collapse of the almost-completed 32-storey State Audit Building next to Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal, Thailand's biggest train station.
The construction project, near completion, was a joint venture between Thailand's Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) and a Chinese state-owned corporation.
Anutin Charnvirakul, also the interior minister, insisted that the Thai and Chinese companies in the joint venture, comprising ITD and a subsidiary of China Railway No.10 Engineering Group, part of the China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC), will be fully held accountable for the building's collapse and its consequences.
Before the quake cruelly singled out this particular high rise out of all the hundreds of tall buildings that dot the Bangkok skyline, it was the pride and joy of the large Jinan-based Chinese construction company, well-versed in railway-related engineering but a rookie in tall building construction.
At the outset, CREC exhibited no reticence in bringing attention to the juicy contract for the "first high-rise building for the bureau overseas".
Indeed, it served as a poster child for China's success in penetrating the lucrative markets of neighbouring nations with promotional posts on Douyin, Weibo and other social media.
CREC's English language blurb proudly states that it "sent strong troops overseas" on the Belt and Road, taking entry into the Thai market to construct the Audit Office Building in Bangkok.
The mega-power firm behind the wildly successful project is described thusly: "China Railway No. 10 is a super-large state-held cross-industry, transnational construction corporation, a Super Class General Contractor of Railway Engineering Construction, Highway Projects, bridge, tunnel, track-laying, girder-erection, bed and surface…"
Among positive attributes, too long to detail, CREC No.10 is also self-described as "a Class B General Contractor status in blasting demolition…"
It will take a thorough forensic analysis to determine what caused the building to wobble, lose structural integrity and completely collapse within minutes of the tectonic jolt. But already questions are being raised on social network forums about quality control, extravagant expenditures, numerous delays, corruption, labour contracting and other less-than-transparent financial moves that apparently riddled the delay-ridden project since its inception in 2019.
Online discussions critique the design itself, the exposed skinny pillars on the bottom, the flat slab build, and the lack of beams and dependence on columns for support.
Prof Dr Amorn Pimanmas, Department of Civil Engineering, Kasetsart University, told Thai PBS that the building's collapse "can be assumed to have come from the columns on the lower floor, which are longer than the other floors… a possible weak link".
Netizens have pointed out that a deadly construction beam collapse on Rama II Road on March 15 involved the audit building partner, Ital-Thai, in a joint venture.
With so many people wondering what happened, some blaming it on low-quality steel, conspiracy theories are not far behind: "China also built the bridge that collapsed in Myanmar."
It is Thailand's sorrow that an oft-delayed, at times disputatious, almost-completed glass, cement and steel block built with the sweat and tears of low-paid labour ended up taking the lives of so many workers, local and foreign, as it tumbled and imploded into a smoking pile of debris right next to the popular Chatuchak market and the new train station. It hurt Bangkok's image and is also a serious public relations setback for China's Belt and Road scheme.
Whether by chance or design, CREC's 2020 contracts to lay cable and then its big contract to build a tower next to Thailand's main train station gave CREC credibility. In 2023, when it came to making a lucrative bid for the Saraburi-Korat segment of the high-speed rail project, it won hands down.
Business pride can be fickle. Hours after the quake, CREC's website, detailing its intimate role in building the magnificent Bangkok audit tower, was taken offline.
It now returns a "400 Not Found" message.
Gone are the red banner photos heralding the contract signing, the banquet photos of Thai and Chinese bureaucrats, the edifying scenes of the work in progress and the artist's sketch of what the gleaming tower would look like when completed. But screen-saved webpages and third-party posts give a rough idea of CREC project hubris at its height:
"In response to the national initiative of the Belt and Road, China Railway 10th Bureau set up an Asia-Pacific branch, taking entry into the Thai market as the first step to fully open up new Southeast Asian markets!"
"In the last month of 2020, China Railway 10th Bureau had another big move! The National Audit Office of Thailand…will be implemented by China Railway 10th Bureau as a whole. It is the highest height and largest single-building construction project undertaken by the 10th bureau so far."
"The contract value is 2.136 million baht (RMB 480 million) slated for a 32-storey tower."
"In other big moves, the 10th Bureau underbid the competition for secure a contract on a 13,000 square metre passenger air terminal in Narathiwat, Thailand."
For reasons of pride, practicality and politics, China-led projects work closely with Thai partners, or at least appear to be doing so, even if it's a China designed and implemented project through and through. Once again, CREC teamed up with the major Thai construction firm Ital-Thai to get a piece of the coveted work.
In the wake of the tragic collapse of a railway tunnel during construction near Khorat last August, CREC publicity about the project has become scant, but it is known that the train tunnel accident took place in the ITD-CREC No.10 joint venture segment of the Sino-Thai railway, claiming lives of three construction workers, two from China, one from Myanmar.
Whether by unhappy coincidence or by an as-yet-to-be demonstrated pattern of systemic negligence, both of the once-heralded projects have been unmitigated disasters for Sino-Thai cooperation.
Philip J Cunningham is a media researcher covering Asian politics. He is the author of 'Tiananmen Moon'.
